Legal Question in Criminal Law in Illinois

Internet Auction Fraud

This girl name Michelle has been working as an independent contractor. She asked my sister to help her sell knives on the internet at Ebay. My sister started to help her months ago. Awhile ago, my sister asked me if she could use my Ebay and Paypal. I agreeded. My sister was getting lots of orders and payments. I would then take the money out of the Paypal account and give it to my sister who then sent it to Michelle to place the orders with Cutco. Well, me and my sister just found out the Michelle has not placed any orders with Cutco for the last two months. She has just been keeping the money that my sister sent her. I wrote to all the customers to let them know what was going on and to tell them that I was doing everything I could to get the money back or get the orders. Now the customers want me and my sister to pay back the money-over $4000 -and we dont have it. We have called the police to get charges against Michelle. And we have asked Cutco to place the orders. They said that there was nothing they could do. They will not send the orders to the customers. Now the customers want to get us for fraud and we didn't know what Michelle was doing. What should we do now?


Asked on 7/12/03, 4:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mary McDonagh McDonagh-Faherty Law Offices

Re: Internet Auction Fraud

You're just going to have to wait and see what the customers and the police decide to do - you should also proceed to sue Michelle in civil court. If Michelle has any assets and you win at court, you may be able to attach her assets to pay you and then repay the customers. You must prove your case to the judge though and right now it sounds like the only proof you have is your word. If you can prove that the payments were being transferred to Michelle - bank statements/emails/letters/phone calls - then you'll have a better chance of winning.

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Answered on 7/13/03, 8:44 am


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